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Shopping for plaid: Black Friday beat downs are finally over

By Mike Morin - For The Telegraph | Dec 5, 2020

Staff photo by Kevin Jacobus^^Mike Morin, 7/19/2005.

Gone are the days of engaging in hand-to-hand combat to score the first 500-inch flat screen TV on Black Friday. No more Oklahoma land rush reenactments at midnight to get the newest video game consoles. Coronavirus has pretty much put the kibosh on heathen retail behavior. No one left Thanksgiving dinner at 6 p.m. for a door buster sale on Kitchen Aid mixers. Socially distancing sure was not compatible with the rules of Black Friday.

Instead, shoppers politely strolled through downtown Nashua Friday, proudly sporting plaid clothing, for an alt-Black Friday shopping experience, avoiding the big box store beat downs many experienced in the past. Supporting local business seems in sync with holiday cheer, helping the little guys survive.

Then there are the people who stalk deals online from their recliners and love seats. Survey says the average person will wait eight days before they buy, hoping for further price drops.

Eight days? I listed a leather jacket on eBay that took over 400 days to sell. Honestly, I totally forgot it was still there. Somebody was apparently watching the incremental programmed price reductions until it got to the right number and, bang, eBay notified me that I sold my $300 jacket for 85-cents. Well, it was more than that, but it pays to lurk virtually for that fabulous deal.

I do the same at Shaw’s in Nashua. Yes, I stalk things like artisan breads and short ribs, waiting for those purple stickers that entitle me to 50% off. With COVID-19, I don’t stalk as frequently, but still score my share of deals on food.

I’ve been known to go to Shaw’s Monday morning with a certain high end bread in mind. Often, when I’d return two days later, the loaf would be half off and I’d either eat it in the store while it was still fresh or take it home and toss it in the freezer.

Even though bread and short ribs aren’t big ticket items, like a 500-inch TV, the average person claims to save $407 on deal hunting a year. Some discount nerds just can’t let it go when they wiff on a sale. 59% who price-stalk say they’ve missed out on something, because they waited too long and lost out. Those people are keeping therapists in business.

I, on the other hand, still check deals over my shoulder just to see what I may have missed by pouncing too quickly on an item on its way down. Perfect example is mortgage rates. In March of 2019 I bought my house in Nashua at 4.62% interest. This past summer, I scored a spectacular 2.75% refi rate saving Lady Baba and me a couple hundred bucks a month, enabling me to buy short ribs at full price if I want. Despite the low interest rate, I still check online to see if I could have done better.

Maybe I could have gotten a lower refi rate of 2.5% if I had worn plaid to the closing.

Contact Mike Morin at mike morinmedia@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @MikeMorinMedia. His column runs the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month.

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